Peer Pressure in the Teen Years
Now a days, it’s hard to survive from peer pressure especially in the teen years. There are many solutions to handle peer pressure, but the most significant ways of doing it is keeping yourself busy. Surrounding yourself with people that you are very comfortable with, understanding your limits, keeping yourself busy with work, studying/doing homework, playing sports, etc. are all examples of keeping yourself busy. Once these solutions are executed, peer pressure will never become a problem.As children become teens and grow older they become less dependent on their family and more dependent on their friends when it comes to making choices of moral and values whether they are big or small.
Peer pressure is not always a bad thing. Teens often learn how to interact with each other by doing activities that their peers have done in the past.
In today’s society, teens try their best to fit in with their friends, which leads them to try things that they aren’t comfortable with doing. One way to find a solution from being peer pressured is surrounding yourself with the right crowd. This can be done by communicating with different groups of people to find out which ones actually care and look out for you, and which ones just keep you around to use you. When surrounded by the right friends, they will always ask about you, make sure everything is going good for you, see if you need to vent to someone, they are always there to listen and share their opinion.
Another way to keep yourself from peer pressure is by making sure you don't have too much free time and keeping yourself busy. This can be done by managing your daily schedule with work and school. Also, playing sports is a very well method to stay busy, and that way you are mentally and physically healthy. When you have too much free time on your hands, it can become very dangerous because it can lead you to do things you didn’t think you would ever do.
Peer pressure is the main reason that many teenagers are resorting to the path of drugs. However, there’s a plethora of ways to avoid even being put in situations where you might be prone to peer pressure. Being surrounded by good people who respect your choices and help you go down the right path is one of the main ways you may avoid being pressured into using drugs. Another way, as stated, would be keeping your schedule busy. Working out, along with focusing on school and other priorities is another method in avoiding the path of drugs.
However Peer Pressure can be both a positive and negative influence and will challenge us do things whether they are right or wrong. This is left for you to determine. Peer pressure can influence several areas in your life like; academic performance, who you choose for friends, it can influence who you mat choose for a boyfriend or girlfriend, it can influence decisions about sex, it may change your feelings about alcohol and drug use, and it can even determine your fashion choice.
Though it's different in many ways in college from high school, there is still pressure at college to "fit in" and to be liked by others , also to have that free open minded thinking . There is often peer pressure to do things you wouldn't normally do "because this is college" and you are trying to meet new friends. While a trip to Wal-Mart at 3am or staying up late with friends while trying to eat your weight in cookie dough maybe fun new things to try, driving while blindfolded because of a sorority dare or trying cocaine "because this is college" and definitely not good choices. Listen to your common sense.
Ttherefore, in order to protect your teen from these types of effects of peer pressure, you need to equip them with positive self-esteem, unconditional love and acceptance, and knowledge.Starting with positive self esteem. If a teen has the ability to make good decisions and has self-esteem, they will be less likely to search out for relief from negative influences.Unconditional love keeps your teen secure in the fact that no matter how well, or poorly, they do on a math test, you will still love them. Therefore, their stress level is less, and they are less likely to look elsewhere for love, acceptance and relief.
Knowledge. Making your teen aware of the negative effects of peer pressure and what they can do to stay away from them will empower them to make the right decisions. This is the strongest tool you and any teenager have .
In conclusion, teens want to make their own decisions. If they have the right information and knowledge to make the decision and the self-confidence and love to back it up, they will more than likely make the best choices.if we surround ourselves with the people who truly care and have lots of love for us , who help us to improve and grow into better versions of ourselves , then any means and kind of any peer pressure will be for sure out of the question , meaning they would never truly bother or exist in our lives if we were to have that barrier of love surrounding us .
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Peer Pressure in the Teen Years. (2021, May 17). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/peer-pressure-in-the-teen-years/